[//M]

The Pune traffic is getting bad to worse day by day. Frequent jams are a norm now. I guess its the same story with many cities. I remember when I used to stay in Bangalore in 2010-11, it was such a breeze except a few bottlenecks around the city. But now the Bangalore traffic is in such a deep mess. So naturally people try to squeeze in every possible gap to make the first cut. This definitely frustrates and angers the drivers in us.

So much for a little amount of patience, we ask ourselves?!

Since the last one year now, I have been using my office transport 95% of the times. It is a far more relaxing and comfortable journey even though its just a 10 km journey one-way. I am a very passionate rider who rides his bike on every possible excuse and I love driving cars as well on a very regular basis. Sadly now the frequency is restricted only to night drives and weekend drives. But the best part is I am happy and not frustrated at the end of the day.

Weekdays it is office transport and weekends I usually ride to the ghat sections around Pune with fellow bhpians and friends. Perfect stress-buster for the week !

[RajaTaurus]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

Fundamentally, all these feelings of frustration have only one root cause:
-- Anxiety build up due to the feeling of not making enough progress on the road.

The solution to be at peace is:
-- Disconnect the thought of "by when"/"how much longer" you'd reach your destination, from your drive.
For this to work, you have to always plan ahead and arrive at the appropriate time to start..

This is exactly the reason. It slowly becomes a mental state and later mental disorder to some people.
Best way to overcome the anxiety will be to quit driving for few days or may be for couple of weeks and take public transport, especially bus. Dont try auto or cabs. Try commute through bus, though it could upset your plans. Continue as a ritual for 2 weeks and then get back into your car. You will feel much better and start thanking the car itself. Things will become all new and comfortable.

[NPV]

When I was talking (well it seemed to him like I was complaining!) about traffic in Bangalore and the commute to work becoming stressful, a friend played devil's advocate and said

But you love driving, don't you ? Likewise, there are lots of others who love it too, so they're almost always on the road. Don't complain, start enjoying, it's all in the mind!

Case in point - someone I met recently actually took up a job in Whitefield knowing fully well that he has to commute all the way from Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bangalore South west (commute is ~35Km one way). He said he loved driving and also loved music but was not getting a chance to listen to music as his commute to work was too short, he was earlier working at Global village which is almost next door from his home!

I'm not trying to justify using the above examples but I think the only way out is for you to plan ahead and find out workarounds to get around the traffic craziness.
Some of the things one can do to get around this is:
-start earlier from home to office
-leave office earlier in the evening
-use the 2 wheeler on 1 or 2 days a week
-take public transport if available

Similarly, when planning a longer drive on weekends, start as early as possible. We used to start our outstation trips around 5-5:30am, we now start around 4am Sometimes, the return leg of the journey becomes painful as you have to negotiate weekend/weekday evening traffic when getting back home, so again start earlier and try to reach home before 6pm.

Even better would be to plan your vacations such that you drive on weekdays instead of weekends.

[SwiftSD]

I understand that love should not come with conditions but driving in mad traffic gives me no feeling of enjoyment or relaxation though I love to drive.

Back in 2013 I had to cover 50 KMs a day round trip to office and that was during the the core office hours. In order to enjoy my ride to office I started for office 30 minutes before my usual start time (in my case 8 AM instead of 8:30 am) and that made a lot of difference. Starting at 8:30 it would take me 1 hr 30 minutes to cover 25 KMs while the same distance could be covered in 50 minutes if I started at 8.

Similarly I tried to move out of office a little early though on most days it was not possible but my observation was that an early start of say 15/20 minutes made a huge difference in the journey time and helped avoid the mad traffic and most importantly helped me enjoy the drive.

I have a different story now, shifted to an apartment closer to office and 20 minutes is all it takes to reach office.

..SD

[amolathalye]

Hi Capslock ,

First of all let me congratulate you for being so open and courageous to share your phobia. It kept me wondering how could someone have problems so similar to my own. In fact now i am feeling better as I have discovered that we are a community of like minded guys. I must admit that I have identical crisis and have almost stopped driving in my Mumbai city. Traffic , congestion , parking problems , road rage has taken its toll on me.

I feel meditation will certainly help as the other situations are totally out of our control. You may also think of other options such as having a driver for yourself or join car pools or use cabs. Don't stress yourself to be like somebody else , you are an individual with specific liking and disliking. You have mentioned that you know people having a smiling face even after driving in congested traffic , but consider a possibility that the smile is a fake one as they have no other option.

Regards
Amol

[arjab]

Buy a Nano AMT.
The tiny footprint, acres of room inside, a chiller of an AC, power steering, superb visibility, excellent ingress & egress, a turning circle to give our auto's a complex, all dramatically reduces the tension along the home - office - home commute, with the NANO slipping through the tightest of gaps & parking in the tiniest of slots. And it even scoops up a fair bit of luggage with its opening rear hatch. It even has a half decent stereo with Bluetooth streaming and four speakers with almost all media input compatibility, for you to listen to your music.

Even parking lot attendants are a smiling lot when the "grinning-grilled" NANO noses its way in! And manages to get you a place for your "Chinna-Wandee", Tiny Car in Tamil , leaving wifey all smiles on her shopping trips to the mad, mad T.Nagar shopping area of Chennai.

So much so, the Swift is hardly used any more for city commutes.

[Maverick79]

I drive 40 kms two way in Chennai traffic. Luckily, our company recently changed timings to 07:50 - 16:50 hrs from 9:00 to 18:30 hrs to beat traffic both ways.
However, off late, most of the other companies also started following this timings.
Hence the traffic density is going to increase back soon.

My analysis and few solutions for handling this are as below,

1. Start early by 10 mins every morning while listening to good music.
2. Driving mode is completely defensive driving.
3. Call as many friends/ family nos as possible through blue tooth while driving back home as the time is just double.
4. Try to car pool when ever possible.
5. Find alternate routes which may be a little longer/ not smooth, but with lesser traffic density and use them if possible.
6. Ensure, the clutch is always checked in every service. So is the A/C filter to give its best performance.

My few cents.

Happy Driving!

Maverick79.

[rselva]

@ CAPSLOCK,
Of the 1Lakh KM that you have driven, I am sure there are thousands which would have been through traffic. Just recall those moments when you dreaded the traffic, yet were able to reach your destination.That will enchance your confidence in your ability.
Get a good driver friend as a passenger for a week and get inputs when driving through traffic.
Try driving through the traffic strech of road at night when there is less traffic. This again will give you 'lay of land' confidence.
Most important, spend time in company of friends who are good drivers. Avoid friends who agree with you about traffic conditions and rant constantly about how bad the situation is! Remember what you envision is just a feeling. Control your mind and the dread goes away.
Just go out and drive-don't fret! You will feel comfortable eventually.

[suhaas307]

Buying a Polo TSI has helped. The automatic gearbox maxes driving through mad traffic less tiresome. And covering ground has gotten easier as it's a reasonably quick car.

But what has really helped is my attitude on the road:

- I no longer engage in heated arguments on the road and I've completely stopped the questionable hand gestures that I may have been guilty of.

- I don't use the horn anymore unless it's absolutely necessary.

- I ensure that I leave a lot of room between me and the car ahead of me.

- I let anyone and everyone cut me off. I don't challenge them for road space anymore and if they really want to get ahead of me, I let them. They're probably in a bigger hurry than I am anyway.

[vishy76]

Following are the things that will reduce your fatigue in traffic.These are not meant to relieve you of traffic but will surely reduce stress upto a certain point
-Roll the windows up switch on the air-con and listen to some music at low volume levels only
-Buy an automatic.The Indian auto industry has progressed and matured a lot in the past decade.7 years ago the cheapest automatic was a Hyundai Verna(10.75 lakhs).You have many options in todays age including the nano AMT,and the alto.(The kwid 1.0 litre AMT is also in the making)
-Avoid slipping the clutch.It will be a pain for both you and the car.
-When you're feeling extra stressed, borrow a tip from the ancient art of acupuncture and give yourself a pressure point massage. Apply pressure to your earlobes using your thumb and index finger, and move slowly up and down the ear for 1-2 minutes.
-have vitamin C in the diet as much as possible such as Kiwi,grapes and other such fruits
Regards,
vishy76

[ashishmathur14]

I totally relate to you @CAPSLOCK.
I can every well understand the pain and agony of driving through that traffic which you do everyday. Staying just 9 Kms from office, I drive for almost an hour everyday in top two gears one way.
Yes, our destinations are same and the pain, it is becoming day by day to drive to phase 2 Hinjawadi, can only be understood by someone who drives there everyday.

You have to negotiate with the careless two wheelers, ignorant Tam-Tam and Auto drivers, Ruthless Travellers, Snobby buses and big bulky truckers at times. After all this, you need to watch for people driving wrong side, sprinters on road, pedestrians who think that the road is a joggers park. Phew !!

I love my car with total commitment and love spending time with it whenever i can, I totally love driving and have done multiple >1000 Kms trips , but I fail everyday doing this 9 Kms stretch.

Tried all the suggestions posted
- Calm driving
- Just driving at 30-40 kmph
- Giving way to everyone who honks
- favourite music
- alternate routes (Which are not many)

All this may help for a week or so, but you will be pushed back to the same trench !

I have found my way out, on odd days when i completely don't feel like driving to the bully traffic, I take a Uber/Ola to work. Even worse, I work from home !!

The only solution to these traffic conditions are good public transport, which does not exist in Pune.

[veyron_head]

Originally Posted by capslock

Probably

Just to be clear, I really love cars and wish to continue driving. I always like cars more than two wheelers.

Empathize with every word you wrote, mate! . I do my best to every time I head out to avoid traffic even if it means taking a long detour. The very sight of traffic stresses me out to no end! Even on a long drive, I almost never drive on weekends, the crowds at the toll booth raise my BP instantly! I take off from work and drive on weekdays.

These days I almost always take the bike out to work. The blood boil, the stress and tension of driving a car is simply not worth it.

[Dieseltuned]

Changing your schedule to non peak hours helps a lot if driving is the only option. I work from 12:30 PM to 08:30 PM IST and the drive to office in the afternoon is a breeze on the otherwise chocked WEH. On the return leg i take help of traffic updates from google maps and choose the route which has less congestion.

Moreover, I have a 'No Car Week' policy wherein i do not take the car to office for one week every month and use the public transportation. This break for a week from driving allows me to catch up on lost time for reading, etc. and also acts as a great stress buster. Refer this thread of mine ::

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...nitiative.html

[ashishmathur14]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

Changing your schedule to non peak hours helps a lot if driving is the only option. I work from 12:30 PM to 08:30 PM IST and the drive to office in the afternoon is a breeze on the otherwise chocked WEH. On the return leg i take help of traffic updates from google maps and choose the route which has less congestion.

Moreover, I have a 'No Car Week' policy wherein i do not take the car to office for one week every month and use the public transportation. This break for a week from driving allows me to catch up on lost time for reading, etc. and also acts as a great stress buster. Refer this thread of mine ::

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...nitiative.html

Choosing not to take your car is a very viable option in Mumbai, I was in Mumbai for almost 10 years and public transport is a bliss even Ricks, plus the most important factor about driving in Mumbai is people follow traffic guidelines.
Come forward to Pune, People will start honking if you stop on a traffic signal as if you are blocking the traffic by stalling. Worst are Ricks who charge as per their mood. Absolutely unusable public transport, public transport network does not exist which add to woes.

Another, There are no alternate routes to Hinjewadi and government is least bothered to improve the situation, While in Mumbai, Government work pretty fast on clogging roads to decongest traffic, Traffic cops are active.
Here in pune, Cops relax on a nearby place where they can sit and enjoy the chaos.

Driving in Mumbai was a bliss, and for me personally, The traffic is more frustrating as nobody is following rules, specially after driving in Mumbai for so many years.

Driven in Delhi/NCR/Mumbai/Pune - Mumbai is the best city to drive even with traffic jams !

[NiInJa]

Couldn't help laughing at first but then I realized it is indeed a serious issue.
I am from Pune, my daily office drive is from Warje (the flyover) to EON IT park (West end to East end and back ). Yes, it does take a toll on your body but here is what I do.

First, I enjoy driving cars. If I am sitting next to the driver in stop and go traffic, I start getting drowsy, so I avoid that scenario. Usually, I am accompanied by a colleague and my wife who happens to work in Viman-nagar which is on the way. Just like the OP, I drive a Beat Diesel with harder clutch and a Honda Brio with a softer but sensitive clutch.

1. Drink plenty of water/juice while driving just like formula one drivers.
2. Dont drive with an empty stomach, it makes matters worse.
3. Switch on the AC and dont ever drive with open windows in stop and go traffic. the cabin kind of acts as a temporary storage for dust and smoke.
4. Keep the car smelling nice inside. Use freshners etc but make sure the smell is not strong.
5. Drive patiently in a relaxed manner and don't push yourself. It only adds to more concentration and as a result strained eyes.
6. Listen to music or just enjoy the sound of your car.
7. At signals and bumper to bumper traffic, dont think much about it. Keep talking to the co-driver or passengers or sing songs aloud, your brain will get diverted from the pressure on your knees because of the clutch. Ah and yes, make sure the seat is adjusted properly. You can also call your wife/girlfriend/relatives if crawling, but for that you should be relaxed.
8. Once you reach home, stay away from TV or mobile phone and give some rest to your eyes.
9 Lastly, love your car and don't think of it just as mode of transportation else you will always feel driving as a burden